Simon C. Walburg‘s article reflects something of the bewilderment of many devout Bible readers as they are now being confronted with a rash of new versions of the Bible. In placing this article, THE OUTLOOK has no intention whatsoever to detract from the esteem we owe bona-fide and responsible scholars such as those who are presently engaged in the ongoing and painstaking task of completing the New International Version or to call their motives into question.

Mr. Walburg is a member of the Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids and has served both as elder and as president of the men‘s society.

I don‘t like to stir up a hornet’s nest but there is something that troubles me as a layman. You might call it a Layman‘s Lament. Now I don‘t take Layman in the sense of a person laying down on the job, but as one who is conscious of his offices as a believer, prophet, priest, and king.

My lament is about the Bible and its many translations. CONFUSING is the word. There are such a rash of translations, paraphrases, living Bibles, revisions of revised versions coming off the modern press that one gets to asking the question, “Which Bible?”

In fact in purchasing a Bible as a wedding present for my recently married daughter and her husband we were stymied. Indeed, which Bible? We finally settled, at her suggestion, on the Revised Standard Version.

We read elsewhere that the Revised Standard Version came into being because there were “grave defects{ in the King James Version, which came into being in 1611 after seven years of effort by fifty–four great scholars at the behest of King James I of England.

To this day many churches still hold to the King James Version as the best and it has been termed “the noblest monument of English prose.” And “we owe to it an incalculable debt,” said the revisers of 1881. The excuse for the revision of the King James Version, according to the Preface of the Revised Standard Version was, “because of the change since 1611 in English usage.”

Prior to 1611 and since that date there have been a good many translations, revisions of translations, etc. A more current one coming to the fore in 1971 is the so called Living Bible paraphrased. This was a clever twist that never should have been. The Bible is ever living and to call a paraphrase a Living Bible seems to be a bit presumptuous and indeed confusing. As if THIS IS THE ONE, and all the other ones are not living Bibles.

And now behold, comes the news that the Living Bible is going to be overhauled because it is inadequate. The revision is for the purpose of correcting three problems. 1. Literary Style. 2. Possible Inaccuracies. 3. Rankness of the original.

So there you are, Again it’s time for a change, according to Dr. Kenneth Taylor. But the Word of God has not changed. “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (III Peter 1:20–21).

To use a phrase of Milton the poet, this makes for CONFUSION THRICE CONFOUNDED. Why are so many translations needed? The hue and cry is, We need to make the Bible more understandable to the man in the street. And oddly, this in the day when many people have more degrees than a thermometer. This to me sounds like a hollow excuse.

Once again to cite another example, in 1973 the New Testament portion of the NIV (New International Version) came off the press. By 1978 they hope to have the Old Testament Version completed. But in studying reviews I notice that there already are flaws and defects, etc., and this supposed INTERNATIONAL Version is inadequate before it is even completed. We need the RPAO version.

Strange, for years Salvation to the Fullest was drawn, by the grace of God from our older translations. But now change, change, change. I ask, what about memorization? How can we memorize the Holy Scriptures when all these translations put our language in a constant state of flux? Even in church often the Pastor will read from one version and the pew Bible will be another version. An in some Bible discussion groups members will have four translations side by side to compare each with the other. I ask, what about memorizing the Word of God under such circumstances?

Remember the old days (pardon the nostalgic note) when we had to learn, in Dutch, those blessed Psalms:

‘t Hiigend hert, der fa gt ontkomen, Schreeuwt niet sterker naar ‘t genot Van de frissche waterstromen, Dan mijn ziel verlangt naar God (Psalm 42:1).

And–

Welzalig hij, die al ziin kracht En hulp aileen van U verwacht, etc. (Psalm 84:3).

Now don’t despise the Dutch. I read a sign on a car recently that said, “If you aren‘t Dutch you aren‘t much.” Now why not admire the Dutch Psalms and our Dutch heritage. After all students study Spanish, German, Russian, French, etc. And those Dutch Psalms as they were memorized by those old saints of yesteryear still ring down the aisles of Time like sweet organ music. More than this they were food for the soul -the soul in distress, souls that were joyful, souls that were passing on to the glory beyond. They were singing souls—and how can we sing today when the change of words keep popping up in new versions every time we turn our heads? Let’s try the RPAO version.

Again I ask, what is the motive behind all these translations? O , I know the sophisticated answer is, “We’re learning new things today, discovering scrolls, etc., that were not in evidence some time ago. Language (unlike the Latin) is living and changes from day to day.” All this may be true, but to the layman this constant change is confusing to say the least.

Is there no way we can stabilize this situation and still be relevant? I dare say many versions would not get off the ground if the profit motive were deleted. And to bandy the Scriptures about so lightly and to willy nilly publish one translation after another becomes to me a hollow mockery. As to the King James Version, to cite an example, with its thee’s and thou’s and doth’s—so what? We don‘t change Shakespeare’s plays to Modern English—that would be abominable. Nor do we change all the thee’s and thou‘s and doth‘s in our Psalter Hymnals, but we have the colossal nerve to “play around” with Holy Writ as if it is a thing of secondary importance. Not that I am against changing to modern English where feasible, but to strain at a gnat and to swallow a camel is the height of the ridiculous.

I ask, have these new versions curbed crime? In spite of the fact that we are printing more versions that are supposed to be ai.med at the man in the street, the crime rate is on the increase. Muggings, robbery, murder, rape—you name it. The reason? There is one ingredient missing. We are printing Bibles by the millions—but where do they end up? On the shelf covered with dust? And crime marches on and on.

Isn‘t our man in the street being reached by all these so-called Modern Versions? I am afraid that all this publishing will be to no avail if these Bibles aren‘t read, PRAYERFULLY AND CAREFULLY. We need the RPAO version so that, as the moon reBects the sun, we too might be a version to those round about us as they see we have been with Jesus. And no doubt as often happens, too many folk are just curious about how the new versions coming off the press restate truths which we have been aware of in previous generations. To sum it all up:

It strikes me funny, it strikes me queer, What makes it that so many times a year, New versions of the Bible come out, And folk will race and scramble about To get this version new and neat, More modern, more clear (so they say) and complete. But in spite of all these versions easy It makes me feel fearful and queasy, Because the crime rate’s just as bad, And folk seem just as mad and sad. I’m afraid these versions aren’t read, Just bought and stacked on the shelf instead. A little more READING, and a little more HEEDING, Of the GOOD BOOK folks, is what we’re NEE DING.

In plain English, WHY NOT TRY THE RPAO VERSION? The READ PRAYERFULLY AND OBEY version. It’s as simple as that. And at the beginning of a new year, may the Holy Spirit lead us into the truth, despite man’s many versions and the devil’s question, “WHICH IS THE TRUE BIBLE?”